Comp-U-News from Comp-U-Talk

The
first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you
want. - Ben Stein

I
was asked again today, 'How come my Norton's anti-virus program doesn't
stop the spyware?' The stock answer is 'because spyware isn't a
virus.'

There
are three problem children associated with the internet.They are Spam, Spyware and Viruses.

Spam
is unsolicited e-mail.It is
similar to the bulk mail you receive in your physical mailbox.Spam has become a major problem for Internet Service Providers.Trying to stop the spam without accidentally stopping the newsletters you
have subscribed to is a major issue.

There
is a new type of spam.It is called 'spim'.Spim attacks your
instant message accounts.It is
estimated that spim will triple from 400 million messages in 2003 to 1.2 billion
this year.

According
to the antivirus firm Sophos, America is the leading producer of spam,
generating 42.53% of total spam.

Spyware
is any technology that gathers information without the users consent.Typically, spyware will report current web pages browsed to advertisers
(presumably those would include things you are interested in) but can also
include key loggers that watch for credit card and bank account numbers.

Spyware
can come into your computer via a virus, via a download, or as the result of
clicking in a pop-up window.Adware
is the less threatening version of spyware.Adware will drive you crazy with popups, but it doesn't report your
credit card numbers to undeserving recipients.

A
virus
is a program that will duplicate itself.As
of March 31, 2005, Norton's is reporting that there are 69,247 known viruses.New viruses are discovered daily.Viruses
can have any number of payloads (destructive behaviors).Some will simply get in the way, some will install spyware, some will
delete data, some will setup your computer to be a transport for spam.I have never met a computer virus that responds to chicken soup.

The
most common way to get a virus is through an e-mail attachment but they can also
come in through regular files (think Word files) or downloads.You've heard it many times: 'Don't
open an attachment from someone you don't know !'

So
back to the original question: Why doesn't Norton's Anti-Virus stop the
spyware?Because spyware isn't a
virus!To stop spyware you need a
spyware tool.We recommend
Ad-Aware, a free download available at: http://www.lavasoft.com/.Ad-Aware will clean roughly 80% of the infections from your system. If
you are still having problems after running Ad-Aware, then professional care is
needed.Bring your system in during
the month of April, mention this article and receive a 15% discount off of your
service work.